While there may be many reasons for Catholic Schools’ struggles, the biggest is likely the dominance of the quasi-monopolistic, coercive “public”—i.e., government—school system.

The basic injustice that parents who choose private education options for their children face is that they are forced to continue having their money seized to fund the government schools. This is morally grotesque, and probably keeps a lot of parents who would otherwise choose private education stuck in public schools.

This injustice should be corrected. A properly structured tax credit program for parental school choice would move us in that direction. My tax credit proposal, Toward a Free Market in Education published in The Objective Standard, would open the door to private alternatives to the public schools for all parents in all income brackets. Tax credits would be available to all taxpayers to fund the education of any child, limited to the per-pupil cost in the child’s local school district. This feature would open vast opportunities not just for parents but for older taxpayers to fund their grandchildren, for example, and for philanthropic funding of poor children’s education, should the poor parents choose private education. And, since tax credits leave individuals free to spend only their own money as they choose—as is their fundamental right—the separation of church and state would not be violated as it is with government vouchers.

This may or may not help the Catholic schools. But it would go a long way to correct the moral injustice of coercive government schools. It would enable private education alternatives of all kinds to compete for education dollars on a more even playing field, while leaving the public schools adequately funded for those who remain with them.

About Me

Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Michael A. (Mike) LaFerrara. I sometimes use the pen or "screen" name "Mike Zemack" or "Zemack" in online activism, such as posted comments on articles. “Zemack” stands for the first letters of the names of my six grandchildren. I was born in 1949 in New Jersey, U.S.A., where I retired from a career in the plumbing, building controls, and construction industries, and still reside with my wife of 45 years. The purpose of my blog is the discussion of a wide range of topics relating to human events from the perspective of Objectivism, the philosophy of reason, rational self-interest, and Americanism originated by Ayn Rand.

As Rand observed: “The professional intellectual is the field agent of the army whose commander-in-chief is the philosopher.” I am certainly not the philosopher. But neither am I a field agent, or general. I am a foot soldier in that Objectivist army that fights for an individualist society in which every person can live in dignified sovereignty, by his own reasoned judgment, for his own sake, in that state of peaceful coexistence with his fellow man that only capitalist political and economic freedom can provide. While I am a fully committed Objectivist, my opinions are based on my own understanding of Objectivism, and should not be taken as definitive “Objectivist positions.” For the full story of my journey toward Objectivism, see my Introduction.

One final introductory note: I strongly recommend Philosophy, Who Needs it, which highlights the inescapable importance of philosophy in every individual's life. I can be reached at mal.atlas@comcast.net. Thanks, Mike LaFerrara.

Recommended Essays/Videos

Quotes I Like

Let me give you a tip on a clue to men’s characters: the man who damns money has obtained it dishonorably; the man who respects it has earned it. Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter.—Francisco d'Anconia

I love getting older...I get to grow up and learn things. Madalyn, 5 years old, Montesorri student, and my grand-daughter

The best thing one can do for the poor is to not become one of them. Author Unknown

Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. Francis Bacon

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. Ronald Reagan

Thinking is hard work. If it weren't, more people would do it. Henry Ford

Intellectual freedom cannot exist without political freedom; political freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; a free mind and a free market are corollaries. Ayn Rand